Battle of the waistbands: MC Melbourne Quik n Dirty V Istanbul

Here’s a laugh!

“With unbridled growth and an influx of people from the countryside looking for work, Istanbul now extends 100 kms from east to west.”

My god. 100 kms.

Melton to Pakenham. 100kms. But are we worried about unbridled growth? The loss of cultural heritage? A chaotic city?

“Istanbul…has all the problems of a city that expanded too fast, with little or no control over its development. Istanbul is a chaotic city, now ungovernable, because it has turned into a commodity.”

Istanbul has 15m people.

And then, if you have more mirth left in you, check this one out:

“Some 40kms from the Bosphorous a concrete replica of the straits is being built on the European side….Our idea is to recreate life on the shoreline but at a more affordable price.”

“…a subway is due to be built…”

Imagine building any kind of fixed rail transport in the new suburbs in Melbourne? Laugh! I almost did.

In 2011

For the purposes of reminding myself…

This year, when not reading Proust, I have read Phillip Roth, The Plot Against America, and enjoyed the ideas in it, though not so much the voice and culture he is writing from; Fado, by Andrzej Stasiuk – within two pages or less I had made my judgement that this was superb, right up my alley and would never leave my library (bookdepository sent me another one unasked — idiots); Angel of Grozny, Asne Sierestad, which lead me to Anna Politkovskaya and Nothing but the Truth – a dip in and out type of book (she must terrify journalists; how to live up to her standards of truth telling?).

I have also bought Osip Mandelstam – The Noise of Time, and looked into Journey to Armenia.

Now back to the Verdurins and their little set, bickering and plotting in the house on the hill looking out to the sea…